With a gentle fall breeze sneaking its way through the streets, I tugged my jacket closed. It was much cooler than I had thought it would be, even though I was used to chilly autumn nights on Lake Erie.

"You know, they invented the zipper for a reason," Mason said as he glanced at my arms folded over my belly.

I smiled. "I'm aware, but that'll ruin my outfit."

"I don't think anyone can see it anyway with just the streetlights, Marigold."

Maybe that was true, but what was the fun in dressing for the weather instead of the look? To me, there was a time for that, and that was the dead of winter.

Besides, it was a lot more fun to explore a new place in a cute orange crochet sweater and skirt than in a boring store-bought jacket. I wouldn't ever expect a guy to understand.

"So where are we going?" I asked as a man walking in the opposite direction brushed my shoulder as he passed by. I shook my head as I turned around to get a look at his back. City people.

"It's a surprise," Mason replied.

I let out a small laugh. "That's not really an answer since I'm in a strange city with a man I've only been talking to for such a short amount of time."

"Well, you had no problem surprising me with your presence."

"That's fair, I guess." I waited for him to respond to that, and when he didn't, I changed the subject to keep the conversation going. "So tell me about yourself."

"Is this a job interview?"

"Answer the question, Mason," I said.

"Is this an interrogation?"

Was it just me, or was he actively trying to be difficult? "It's not—I just want—"

"I'm joking."

I didn't find it funny, but I laughed anyway. "Then tell me where you grew up, because I think I would know if you went to my high school. There weren't too many people I didn't know."

"Small school?" he asked.

"It was kind of small, and I was in student council, so I was always involved in everything that was going on." I smiled. "I liked to be in-the-know. I still do. My friend always told me it's because I'm nosy."

"Yeah?"

"I don't think that's true, though. I don't care about anyone's personal business, really. I just wanted the school to be the best it could be." I thought for a moment. "Well, that and I liked being the one who got us what we wanted every once in a great while."

I paused for a moment to give him a chance to respond. Blake also always told me that I talked too much. But when I looked over at him, he was distracted by his phone.

My heart sank into my stomach. I had spent way too much on an Uber for him to ignore me after not even an hour of talking.

"I swear it used to be right here," Mason mumbled to himself and pressed a button on his phone screen. "They must have closed. That sucks. They had amazing sandwiches."

"Oh, that's disappointing. I love sandwiches," I said. "How many times had you been there before it closed and got replaced with this—" I looked up at the sign— "real estate office?"

Man, times really were tough if eateries were being replaced with real estate.

"A few times," he replied.

I wasn't quite sure where I was supposed to take the conversation with an answer as bad as that, so I didn't even try.

"You know, I should probably head home. It's been a long day, and I know my roommates are worried about me, so I don't want to keep them waiting too long," I said.

He nodded. "Okay."

That was it? I mean, it was a good sign that he was respecting what I wanted, but just okay?

I grabbed my phone to tell Chris that I would, in fact, need a ride back to Marblehead, and to tell Alex and Blake that I wasn't dead.

"Oh, and Marigold?" Mason said.

I looked up from my phone. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming," he said, and with that, he ducked into the bar next to the real estate office.

***

"So you're telling me that after the sandwich shop that probably never existed in the first place was discovered to be shut down, he didn't offer to take you anywhere else for food?" Chris asked.

"You're making me feel like I have horrible taste in men," I said quietly.

"That's not what I'm saying, Marigold. Look, I just don't understand how he could offer to take you somewhere and then take you nowhere. It's rude. Where's he from?" Chris asked.

"He's from—" He never even answered that question, did he? "I don't even know, but it's certainly not Marblehead. Our people are raised better than that."

"We sure are," Chris said, and after a second of silence, he continued. "So you're hungry then?"

I nodded. "Kind of, but it's not like I'm starving. I ate a little bit while I was watching him play the piano."

And he did thank me for showing up, which was nice of him. He never asked me to come, and I probably shouldn't have even let the crazy idea run wild in the first place, but I refused to listen to rational thought.

"If you're not concerned about time, we can stop and get something. We have a couple hours until we make it back home, and I know enough that when someone says they're kind of starting to get hungry, you have about twenty-eight minutes until they turn into a completely different person," Chris said.

I laughed. "And I definitely fall into that group of people."

"If you think of anything you want, let me know, preferably before twenty-eight minutes go by."

Was he this funny back when we were teenagers? I didn't talk to him much back then, but since he was only a lunch table away, I probably would have overheard more laughter.

The gentle hum of the car's engine filled the momentary silence between us, and I checked my phone to see if Mason had anything to say to me. I had one unread message, but it wasn't from him.

I read the text from Alex. "Coming back already?"

"I don't sleep with guys after one half-date. I'm not like that, unlike some people here," I typed out and sent before I could realize how mean it was.

"And what about it? Jealous?" Blake sent.

Glad to know he could respond to the shade I was throwing but not a text about my well-being. And I was only a little bit jealous of that kind of confidence.

But instead of replying to Blake, I decided to start up a new conversation with Chris. "Do you usually accept jobs like this? You know, driving someone to another state?"

"Never had the chance until today." He glanced down at the clock in the car, which read 12:32. "Or, yesterday, actually."

I smiled. "I guess it's not that common, huh?"

"Well, I usually just take people to and from Cedar Point, so it was a nice change of pace."

I definitely got that. Every single order to my craft shop was a sweet escape from bringing people their wine and food, and even though it was a little harder to manage both of those in my life, it was a path to me finally doing what I wanted all the time.

I looked out the car window as I tried to decide if I wanted to stop and get something to eat, or if I was willing to risk turning into a scarier Cinderella at midnight, and now that we were out of the city, all there was was the highway.

As much as I liked slowly carving a path for myself through life, making my own choices, it sure would have been nice if I could get something that could get me where I wanted to go like that highway.

----------------------------------------------------

Hello! Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate your support on this book!

So for today's question, do you have any pets? And if not, what kind of pet would you want?

I have a wonderful cat named Dixie. She's an adult, but she's still pretty young, so she loves getting into stuff, making messes, and being an all-around menace. She's the best, though. She always knows when I need a buddy.